Kandy or Mysore?

Neither city has any beach life. Kandy's lake is ornamental and its rivers are unsafe for bathing, while Mysore's reservoir and the Kaveri are for looking at. In both, a hotel pool is the only place to swim, and in Kandy many of those pools look out over forested hills.

The real difference is how easily you can add the sea. From Kandy, the Sri Lankan coast is a few hours' drive, so a few nights in the south or east fit naturally into the same trip. From Mysore, the Karnataka or Kerala coast means a flight or a long drive.

Mysore eats better, and breakfast is the reason. Butter-rich dosas, idli and vada with strong filter coffee in steel tumblers, then a banana-leaf lunch refilled until you stop it, are worth planning a morning around. Long-established confectioners still sell the city's own Mysore pak.

Kandy's strength is Sri Lankan rice and curry, served with its many small dishes at plain eating houses near the clock tower, plus hoppers in the morning and kottu at night. There are few ambitious kitchens, though, and many visitors end up eating at their hotel. Tea tastings on the nearby estates make up for some of that.

Mysore offers more to see. The palace is one of India's most visited monuments, and the Jaganmohan Palace holds Raja Ravi Varma paintings. Add St Philomena's Church and the Chamundeshwari temple on its hill, and the royal city fills two or three days.

Kandy is concentrated in a single place. The Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, inside a UNESCO-listed old city, is the country's holiest Buddhist shrine, and the drumming, pilgrims and lotus offerings matter as much as the buildings. With the lake, the garrison cemetery and the hilltop Buddha, it makes a rich half-day or full day rather than a long programme.

Both cities go to bed early, so this should not decide your choice. Kandy's evening is a drink on a hotel terrace above the hills or in one of a few old-fashioned bars. Mysore has a little more going on after dark: the palace lit up on Sunday and festival nights, a walk through the market and a handful of pubs that close well before midnight. If you want a real night out, it means Colombo from one and Bengaluru from the other.

Kandy has the stronger landscape, and it starts at the edge of town. The city sits in a green bowl at about 500m, with monkeys and birdlife in Udawatta Kele just above the temple. The giant bamboo and fruit bats of Peradeniya are a short ride away, and further out there is hiking through tea estates and the cloud forest of the Knuckles Range.

Mysore's own outdoors is gentler: the dawn climb up Chamundi Hill and the storks and pelicans at Ranganathittu. Its distinctive draw is wildlife. Jeep safaris in Bandipur, Nagarhole and Kabini, about two hours away, offer the chance of a tiger or leopard, something Kandy cannot match.

Both make good bases, but the trips are on a different scale. From Kandy the big names are further away: the painted caves of Dambulla are two hours on winding roads, and Sigiriya is a long day beyond that. The closer outings are the Embekke temple circuit, tea factories and the elephants at Pinnawala.

Mysore's best trips are closer. Tipu Sultan's island fortress at Srirangapatna is half an hour away and the Hoysala carving at Somnathpur about an hour, while the hilltop Gomateshwara statue at Shravanabelagola makes a fuller day. In both cities, a car with a driver is the practical way to go.

Mysore has much more for children. There is a large, shaded zoo from the maharajas' time, a rail museum with royal carriages to climb into, musical fountains at Brindavan and boating on Karanji Lake. The calmer pace helps too, though the Dasara crowds are a lot for small children.

In Kandy, children are warmly welcomed, but the outings are few: the Peradeniya lawns, the elephants and the scenic train. Narrow pavements and the temple's expectations of quiet and covered knees make the centre tiring, so families do best in a hillside hotel with a pool.

Getting around is similar work in both cities: a small core you can walk, broken pavements and rickshaws for everything else. Kandy's problem is its geography, with traffic squeezed through a narrow valley and steep climbs up to many hotels. On the plus side, its station is the start of the famous rail line through the tea country to Ella.

Mysore is flatter and more spread out, with app-booked cabs alongside the auto-rickshaws and short hops between the zoo, Chamundi Hill and Brindavan. A fast rail line and an expressway make Bengaluru easy to reach.

Mysore gives shoppers more to look for. Its heavy, gold-woven silk is sold at the government weaving factory and along Sayyaji Rao Road, and sandalwood soap, oil and carvings, hand-rolled incense and gold-leaf paintings are all made locally.

Kandy's buys are tea from the hill estates, spices, batik, lacquerware and carved masks, with fixed prices at the government craft shop. In both cities, buy carefully: in Kandy, gem showrooms that drivers steer you towards, and in Mysore, fake silk and sandalwood.

Both are cheap, and Mysore is slightly cheaper. Day-to-day costs barely differ between rice and curry in Kandy and a vegetarian thali in Mysore, or between a tuk-tuk and an auto-rickshaw.

The gap is in what you pay to see things. Kandy charges foreigners much higher fees at the temple, Peradeniya and the ancient sites further north, while entry to Mysore's palace, zoo and museums stays modest. In both cities, a hired driver and a stay in a heritage or hillside hotel are where the money goes.

Neither city has much formal theatre or concert life, but what each offers is different. Kandy is reliable: cultural halls by the lake stage Kandyan dance every evening, with drummers, fire walkers and silver headdresses, and the Esala Perahera brings elephants and torch bearers to the streets in July or August.

Mysore's Carnatic and veena tradition runs deeper but is harder to catch. Outside the autumn Dasara concerts, it comes down to occasional recitals and repertory plays, mostly in Kannada.

Mysore is the place to go for wellness, thanks to yoga. As the birthplace of Ashtanga, it draws students for weeks or months to the quiet streets of Gokulam, where days start on the mat before dawn and Sanskrit and chanting classes fill the afternoons.

Kandy's offer is Ayurveda: oil massages, herbal steam baths and longer programmes with prescribed diets, best taken at retreats on the forested hills with views over the tea estates. In both cities the noisy centre is not restful, so look for calm on the outskirts and in the early morning.